Improvement in needles for knitting-machines



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VALTER AIKEN, OF FRANKLIN, NE'V HAMPSHIRE.

FOR KNITTING-MAoHlNEs.

Specitication forming part o'f Letters Patent No. 78,506, dated June 2, 1868.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WALTER AIKEN, of Franklin, in the county of Merrimac and State of New Hampshire, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Knitting Machine Needles; and I do hereby declare the same to befnllydescribed inthe followingspecification, and represented in the accompanying drawings,lmarked Figure 1, which isasideview of a needle constructed in accordance with my improvement. p

In carrying out my invention I make that portion of the shank of the needle which is in rear of the impelling projection with corrugations arranged in the plane of the said projection, the same being as represented at a a a, Ste., in the said drawings, in which A denotes the shank of the needle, B the impelling projection, C the'hook, and D the hook closer or latch.

Fig. 2 exhibits the common movement of making a needle-viz., with what may be termed a folded or donbled7 shank-that is, with a portion, c, of the shank bent or folded down upon the part b, the object of such being to make the shank of wire and deeper in rear of the projection B than in front of it.

The grooves of the knitting-machine are usually cut deep enough to take in the doubled shank shown in Fig. 2, the purpose ofthe iucrease in the depth of the shank being to keep the needle fromtipping or turning over laterally when in operation. Vith the needle represented in Fig. 2 the part c of the shank is liable to become bent out of place or broken off at its heel or bend. The crooked or corrugated shank overcomes these objections, is more easily made and requires less. material or stock in its construction, and operates to as good, if not much better, advantage.

' I do not confine my invention or improvement to the precise form of corrugations or flexures, as represented in Fig. l, as the same may be varied more or less without changing the principle or character of my invention.

I do not herein claim the needle made as represented in Fig. 2 of the above-mentioned drawings-that is, as formed with a doubled shank; but

I claim as my invention` The improved knitting machine needle, made with a series of flexures or corrugations, a a a, in its shank, substantially as represented in Fig. l ofthe aforesaid drawings, and as hereinbefore specified.

WALTERv AIKEN.

Witnesses:

O. C. BROWN, GEORGE L. SANEORN. 

